In Depth Look at Democratic Candidate Bernie Sanders

The 77-year-old Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, formally announced his campaign on February 19th.

The day Sanders announced, he was warmly welcomed by supporters by setting a record for donors and donations received, 223,000 donors and $5.9m raised. Donations received have been from all 50 states, which shows his reach and popularity across the country.

Shortly after the announcement, Sanders’ name was in the news for some negative reasons. Some people from his 2016 campaign have spoken out about their alleged sexual harassment they received from aides on Sanders’ staff, and there also seemed to be some payment discrepancy between men and women on staff. Sanders has been asked multiple times since, and has promised to better vet staff members and be more involved. He would also add that there will be an outside source available for anyone who feels they are being treated inappropriately.

When the name ‘Bernie Sanders’ comes to your mind, its safe to say the first thing you think of is ‘socialism’. However, he is not a socialist, but a democratic-socialist. He defines this as, “Democratic socialism means that we must create an economy that works for all, not just the very wealthy. Democratic socialism means that we must reform a political system in America today which is not only grossly unfair but, in many respects, corrupt.” and in the same speech goes on to say, “So the next time you hear me attacked as a socialist, remember this: I don’t believe government should own the means of production, but I do believe that the middle class and the working families who produce the wealth of America deserve a fair deal.“ Hopefully that clears up what mainstream media sources have to say about the Senator.

Bernie Sanders became immensely popular in the 2016 race against Hillary Clinton because he was running on medicare-for-all. This is a single-payer system in which everyone would be given healthcare and it would be funded by a small increase in taxes, and a larger increase in taxes for wealthy folks. To read about more ‘how to pay’ options, and more of the plan, you can click here.

Sanders is also for free public college, which would also be financed through taxes. From his website, he says this, “We need to have the best-educated workforce in the world. It is counter-productive to the best interests of our country that hundreds of thousands of bright young people cannot afford to go to college, and that millions of others leave school with a mountain of debt that burdens them for decades—preventing them from buying homes and starting families.” He believes that the massive student debt,$1.5trillion, is weighing down the economy, which it is, and holding back a middle class that could be thriving.

The main complaint about Bernie Sanders is ‘How are we going to pay for everything?’. Bernie himself has said he would not go as high as Eisenhower’s marginal tax rate, which was about 90%, in which the economy was thriving, but would settle at around 50%. This is a marginal tax rate, not a tax rate for everyone. There seems to be a misconception when this number is brought up. You would only pay a 52ish% marginal tax rate if you make over $10m a year. For the average single american, making between $37,000 and $91,000, you would pay a 27% marginal tax rate. Under today’s system, you would pay between 22 and 24%. A slight increase, but the average american would be provided more benefits from the government.

As for other issues, Sanders would expand social security, ban assault rifles and take on the National Rifle Association, abolish the death penalty, legalize recreational marijuana, expand the Veterans Association, invest in rural America, which would include expanded broadband internet, address the opiate epidemic that is very harmful to our area, and have a ‘jobs for all’ program, which is apart of the Green New Deal.

In April’s national Emerson poll, Sanders was at the top with 29% of the vote. Many other polls have Sanders at the top and he is definitely off to a strong start.